The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-10-27

Cuell thy barbed lightning III the Somoer west;
Quiet thy thunder dogs that bay the moon;
Soothe the days fretting like a tender nurse;
Breathe on our spirits till they be in tune.
- We're 1t not best
- To hush oil noises in the universe,
And bless with solemn quietude, that thus
The STILL small voice of God might speak to usi
-Danske cambridge in Tho Critic
GHOSTS. ABROAD.
The Valiant was her name. Who had
christened her, and how she came to be
christened name so peculiarly inappro-
pirate, we cannot say. She was tub if
ever there was one. Such craft us she,
they build by the mile, and saw up into
lengths. A floating coal box, painted
black, with an engine and couple Of
boilers, ruddcr and screw, some tarred
rope and score of seamen Of all nation
alities and no manners; there you have
the Valiant, and the: thousand and one
ships of the same ilk which fetch and
carry the riches Of the world.
On the 18th of February we cleared out
Of the Tyne, loaded to the muzzle with
coal, ard bound for Venice We had q
river pilot aboard, of course, and were
dragged out to sea, through the double
line of buoys and the crowd of shipping,
by a little coffee pot of tug. The chief
officer, Mr.. Marks, was in command, for
our new cap'n had not yet arrived from
{: Newcastle. He was an elderly man, this
Mr.. Marks, with patient eye, and
sandy goats beard. Mr.. Bubble, the,
second mate, was squat little man, heav-
: ilys bearded, who had run away from
& homo to follow the sea, and had never
: ceased rcgretting it ever since, for, after
tsbucketing'' about on three years
cruise, he found Himself too much of
& salt to .be happy ashore, and too heartily
sick Of the sea to be contented afloat.
For the rest, our ships company consisted
of q motley crew of twelve seamen, half
/ dozen. stokers. three engineers, stew
! ard 81 cook and cabin lad. A regular
old seadog was our bu sun, Jack Dredge,
stumpF and square, his brown, weather
battered face framed in ragged fringe of
whisker;; one eye had foundered in his
head, and there was nothing left but an
]: eyelid and a hole The ball of had been
bitten one night in his sleep by q famishing
rat, and had festered and sloughed out.
: He was in mid Pacific then, and the near
3 est surgeon thousand miles away. He
vas Of taciturn disposition, and / fancy
mis-. temper had been damaged in the
! West Indies by q too liberal allowance of
pepper in his curry. In his last spell
ashorc-he was a native Of Newcastle,
where his wife and his lad Bill lived-the
aSalYationists had got hold of him in the
{ midst Of ono Of his tremendous drinking
bouts, md had excited him into state Of
! religious frenzy, and in his temporary ex-
Z saltation he signed the pledge, and, amid
q Whirlwind of applause, fetched bottle
+ Of rum out of his pocket, and, smashing
1T on the platform, solemnly executed q
hornpipe on the relics When he came to
& his senses next morning and remembered
what he had done, he swore at himself
/: like, hurricane, but kept the pledge:
though he nlaltreated fcarfully Jealous
=stcaptain' who called about breakfast
q time to see how their seafaring proselyte
was progressing.
Well, we hove to down the river just
where we could feel the lift Of the sea
under our keel, and waited for the return
Of the tug with our skipper. The Sky was
banked up with clouds, and a pretty stiff
wind was piping in from the mormon -east.
The steam was ut high pressure and blow
: ing off from the waste pipe by the funnel.
: We were little more shipshape, for the
men had been swabbing and swilling the
I coal dust from the decks. At last the tug
steamed alongside, and Mr.. Marks re-
=ceived the skipper rs he swarmed up the
rope ladder, followed by his portmanteau
and umbrella He was o dapper little
man and came aboard smoking cigarette.
BY the time the fresh meat had been
passed across into the DOCTORS the sailors
sob-iquet for the cook hands the pilot
was ready to leave US.
- well, good night, cap'nn' sang Master
Pilot, as he clambered over the side
t'good night, and bong voyageEBelow
there! steady!''
The ropes: were cast off. The engine
room telegraph was ung-s1"Slow ehead;"
and rs she got way on her the Valiant
was headed for the see. -.
It was n dirty night and not yestige
: of moon. The.sea was not very heavy,
! but it was getting up under the nor'easter
and there was every sign of wicked gale
brewing, Day broke at last over a tum-
( bling sea. What with keeping the
watches, overhauling the decks fore and
aft, battening down the matches and max
y ing Ill shipshape, there was plenty to do
:on that first day at seq to keep US from
thinking too fondly of the girls we had left
behind US.
Hnuf after hour the Valiant pegged
stubbornly along, plunging down the
green slopes of the waves, and raising her
s self heavily out Of the troughs Of the seq.
s She rolled excessively, and labored up the
3 waves in reluctant way, which was far
from inspiring confidence in her sea-
I worthiness At2 p. M. we passed the
Cromer lighthouse, and it was an hour
and a half afterward before we got the
Haslow light abeam. At Mr.. Bubble
turned out for the first dogwatch, and
soon afterward man brought the side
lights aft and fixed them in their sockets.
Then, after second trip for'ard, he re-
2 turned, nursing the pinnacle lamp in his
arm. It was Smith who brought them
instead Of the bo'sun, whose dutyit is to
: look to the compass lights Mr.. Rubble
sWas too little of martinez to have
troubled himself about so small an irreg-
Z ularity, had he not been irritated by the
clumsiness of the mans efforts to adjust
the lamps.
ssWhere's the bo'sun?' he shouted into
Smiths ear, for the wind and sea were
making q great uproar. "Why hasn't
Dredge brought these lights himself'
What does he mean by sending you with
'ems"
Still fumbling at q lamp, Smith bel
lowed in reply, Dunno, sirr'
But there was look in his face, shy
and glossy with rain, which gave the lieto
his words Mr.. Rubble noticed the tell
tale expression, but did not stop to give ita
second thought. Taking the lamp from
Smiths blundering fingers, he dismissed
him, and fixed it in the pinnacle himself
AT four bells the first mate relieved Mr..
Rubble, and the later dived below to get
his tea and snatch of sleep il possible be
fore it came his turn again for Mount
Misery (sea slang for the bridge). With
his. hands deep in the dog cared pockets
of his pea jacket and his shoulders hoisted
well up to his ears, Mr.. Marks paraded to
and fro, humping his feet down to keep
the blood in them from stagnating.
Every now and then he peered ahead into
the stormy darkness, on the lookout for
the Shrowash light, which was due to come
up some half dozen points off the star
board bow. Every now and then ne
: stapnpd aside to consult the compass, to